Prep roundup: Camarillo girls soccer team advances to semifinals

There will be no San Gabriel Valley matchup in the Southern Section Division VI girls soccer semifinals next week, a pair of teams from the Pacific View League made sure of that.

Not long after Oxnard Pacifica eliminated third-seed San Dimas 1-0, visiting Camarillo jumped on top of host Sierra Vista and held on for a 3-1 victory over the second-seed Dons in the quarterfinals Friday.

The Dons, who claimed the school’s first team championship of any kind by winning the Division VII title in 2010, were eliminated from the quarterfinals for the third consecutive year.

It ends another remarkable year, finishing 21-4, marking the fourth straight season the Dons finished with just four losses or less.

“It’s always tough when you lose,” Dons coach Steve Jimenez said. “But we’re proud of our program. I’ve got great coaches, great parents, kids and school support that allow us to work year-round. We’re not going anywhere, we’ll be back.”

The Dons, undersized on anything played through the air, fell behind on a pair of corner kicks in the fifth and 20th minutes by failing to get a body on Scorpions striker Jackie Fiacco, who headed home both goals to put the Dons in an early 2-0 hole.

“That’s been our weakness, set plays, set pieces, free kicks and corner kicks,” Jimenez said. “It’s a big advantage when you have (players) almost a foot (taller) than our girls. Unfortunately, it didn’t fall our way. But we had our opportunities; we just couldn’t capitalize on them.”

It only got worse in the 44th minute when Dons goalkeeper Sophia Contreras couldn’t handle Fiacco’s hard-rolling shot directly at her, losing it in the wet conditions. Scorpions forward Alex Bramwell followed up and was able to grab the loose ball and score to make it 3-0.

The Dons finally got on the scoreboard in the 46th minute after earning a penalty kick. Senior Jessica Lopez took it, scoring her 35th goal of the year, but the Dons couldn’t pull closer despite having several opportunities in and around the box.

“When you’re down 3-0 you have an opportunity, but down 3-0 is tough to come back from,” Jimenez said. “It was an unfortunate mistake from the keeper, but it happens, it’s part of the game. Whoever capitalizes on mistakes and takes advantages of those mistakes is the one who is going to win the game.”